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BioShock is a first-person shooter series about failed utopias and the cost of trying to engineer perfect societies. The first two games descend into Rapture, Andrew Ryan’s Art Deco city beneath the Atlantic, where genetic powers, class conflict, and mind control turn an objectivist dream into a ruin. BioShock Infinite moves to Columbia, a flying 1912 city built around American exceptionalism, racial hierarchy, and religious authoritarianism. Its expansion, Burial at Sea, connects Columbia’s multiverse to Rapture and reframes the original game’s events. The three main releases are BioShock (2007), BioShock 2 (2010), and BioShock Infinite (2013).
Spoilers follow for all three games and both Burial at Sea episodes.
What is BioShock about at its core?
BioShock uses shooter combat, role-playing upgrades, and immersive-sim problem solving to examine free will, ideology, and the collapse of supposedly perfect cities. In Rapture, Andrew Ryan tries to build a society free from governments, religion, and what he calls parasites. In Columbia, Zachary Comstock turns a floating world’s fair into a theocratic celebration of American power. Both cities become prisons because their founders treat people as tools for an idea.
The series lets you fight with guns, environmental hazards, hacking, and biological powers. Plasmids in Rapture and Vigors in Columbia give you abilities such as electrokinesis, fire, or telekinesis. Those systems are not separate from the writing: rescuing or harvesting Little Sisters changes the first game’s ending, while Infinite uses apparently fixed events and alternate realities to ask whether choice can escape a repeating pattern.
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Ken Levine, the creator and creative director of the first game and Infinite, described a BioShock world as both “fantastic and ridiculous” and grounded enough to feel believable, combined with a large toolset that lets players decide how to solve challenges. The publisher is 2K, under Take-Two Interactive. Irrational Games (also known as 2K Boston) made the first game and Infinite; 2K Marin developed BioShock 2, with support from studios including 2K Australia, Arkane Studios, and Digital Extremes.
The series had sold more than 43 million copies by August 2024, according to Take-Two and series reporting. The original BioShock had sold around 3 million copies by June 2009, while BioShock 2 passed 3 million. Infinite has surpassed 11 million worldwide. Those figures describe commercial reach, not a single continuous plot: the connection between the underwater and airborne cities becomes explicit only later.
What is Rapture in BioShock?
Rapture is a fictional underwater city founded by Andrew Ryan in 1946, after World War II. Ryan imagines it as an isolated refuge for artists, scientists, and industrialists who want unrestricted individual, scientific, and economic freedom. Contact with the surface is forbidden. Its Art Deco towers, brass signage, ocean-view windows, and flooded corridors were inspired partly by New York landmarks such as Rockefeller Center and the GE Building.
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The city’s isolation solves a practical problem as well as a political one: once the player enters, there is nowhere ordinary to walk away to. The developers drew on the unsettling quality of seeing a functioning place reduced to ruins, an influence often compared with The Shining. In the alternate Rapture shown in Burial at Sea, shops are open and civilians still dance on 31 December 1958, making the later devastation more immediate.
How did Rapture fall?
Scientists Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong discover ADAM, a substance derived from sea slugs that can rewrite DNA. ADAM enables plasmids, but it is addictive and must be harvested repeatedly. Tenenbaum and Fontaine increase supply by implanting slugs in orphaned girls, creating Little Sisters who extract ADAM from corpses. Ryan has them protected by Big Daddies: humans grafted into armored diving suits.
Citizens who overuse ADAM become Splicers, genetically altered and frequently psychotic. Frank Fontaine, a gangster and businessman, gains influence among poorer residents through black-market goods and ADAM. Ryan seizes Fontaine’s companies. Fontaine fakes his death, returns as Atlas, and presents himself as a champion of working people. The resulting revolt and Ryan’s repression ignite a civil war around New Year’s Eve 1958–1959. When the first game begins in 1960, Rapture is already a dystopia.
Who is Andrew Ryan?
Ryan is Rapture’s founder and the clearest expression of its ideology. His name echoes novelist Ayn Rand, whose ideas, along with influences from George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, shaped the series’ political vocabulary. Ryan insists that a person should own the fruits of individual effort, yet he abandons those principles when Fontaine threatens his control. That contradiction is central to the city’s collapse.
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What happens in BioShock (2007)?
BioShock released on 21 August 2007 for Windows and Xbox 360; a PlayStation 3 version followed on 17 October 2008. It is set in 1960 and begins when Jack survives a plane crash in the Atlantic, reaches a lighthouse, and descends into Rapture by bathysphere.
- Atlas’s mission: A radio voice claiming to be Atlas asks Jack to rescue his family. Atlas directs him through ruined districts and encourages him to harvest Little Sisters for ADAM. Tenenbaum instead offers a plasmid that allows Jack to free them.
- The city’s secrets: Jack battles figures such as surgeon J. S. Steinman and artist Sander Cohen while Ryan destroys the bathysphere Atlas said contained his family.
- Would you kindly: Ryan reveals that Jack is his illegitimate son. Fontaine bought Jack as an embryo, had Tenenbaum and Suchong accelerate his aging, conditioned him as an assassin, and sent him to the surface with false memories. The phrase “Would you kindly” is a trigger that compels Jack to obey. Jack realizes it also helped cause the plane crash after he read a letter containing the phrase.
- Ryan’s death: Ryan demonstrates the difference between voluntary action and compulsion by ordering Jack to kill him. He says, “A man chooses, a slave obeys,” then uses the trigger phrase to make Jack beat him to death with a golf club.
- Fontaine’s takeover: Atlas is revealed as Fontaine. Tenenbaum and the Little Sisters remove Jack’s conditioning. Fontaine injects enormous quantities of ADAM, becomes a hulking creature, and is killed by Jack with the Little Sisters’ help.
What do the BioShock endings mean?
If the player rescues every Little Sister, Jack reaches the surface, adopts five of the girls, and is shown surrounded by them on his deathbed. If the player harvests any Little Sister, the ending turns darker: Jack seizes a nuclear-armed submarine with Splicers, while Tenenbaum’s narration changes according to how many girls were harvested. No reliable published percentage establishes how many players chose either path.
Burial at Sea treats the rescue future as the outcome Elizabeth dies to preserve. That makes the compassionate ending the continuity used by the later expansion, even though the original game presents player choice rather than a single mandatory result.
Is BioShock 2 canon, and what is its story?
Yes. BioShock 2 is a canonical continuation of Rapture’s timeline, set in 1968, eight years after the first game. It released worldwide on 9 February 2010 for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. You play Subject Delta, an early Big Daddy prototype, rather than an outsider arriving from the surface.
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The prologue takes place on New Year’s Eve 1958. Delta patrols with his Little Sister, Eleanor, until her mother, psychologist Sofia Lamb, forces him to kill himself and severs their bond. In 1968, a Little Sister acting under Eleanor’s direction resurrects Delta. Tenenbaum warns that he will die unless he reconnects with Eleanor, while Augustus Sinclair guides him through the deteriorating city.
Lamb plans to use ADAM to transfer Rapture’s minds into Eleanor and create a leader devoted to selflessness. Delta can spare or kill members of Lamb’s Rapture Family and can rescue or harvest Little Sisters. Lamb eventually stops Eleanor’s heart to break Delta’s bond. Eleanor transforms into a Big Sister, frees him, and leads him toward Sinclair’s escape pod. Lamb has converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy, forcing Delta and Eleanor to kill him.
Delta is mortally wounded. Depending on the player’s choices, Eleanor either saves Lamb or lets her drown, then either absorbs Delta’s personality and leaves with the Little Sisters to help the outside world or takes his ADAM and embraces domination. The game’s themes shift from Ryan’s individualism to collectivism, altruism, and parenthood.
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What is Minerva’s Den?
Minerva’s Den, released in August 2010, is a single-player expansion starring another Big Daddy, Subject Sigma. Tenenbaum guides Sigma toward the computer system that helps operate Rapture. It is included in BioShock: The Collection. The separate BioShock 2 multiplayer mode, set during the 1959–1960 civil war, is not included in that collection.
What is Columbia in BioShock Infinite?
Columbia is a flying city launched in 1893 as a floating world’s fair during the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Its “quantum levitation” technology keeps it in the sky. After Columbia fires on Chinese civilians during the Boxer Rebellion, the U.S. government orders it home; the city secedes and disappears into the clouds.
By 1912, founder Zachary Hale Comstock has turned Columbia into a theocratic police state. The Founding Fathers are treated as religious icons, white supremacy and institutional racism are embedded in public life, and minorities form a labor underclass. The Founders face the Vox Populi, a rebellion led by Daisy Fitzroy. Tears in space-time leak objects, songs, inventions, and knowledge from other universes into the city.
| City | Era and setting | Governing ideology | How it collapses | Signature powers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rapture | Underwater Atlantic city; 1960 and 1968 | Ryan’s laissez-faire individualism and rejection of government and religion | ADAM addiction, smuggling, class revolt, and Ryan’s abandonment of his own principles | Plasmids, ADAM, Big Daddies, and Little Sisters |
| Columbia | Flying city launched in 1893; story set in 1912 | Comstock’s theocratic American exceptionalism, nativism, and racial hierarchy | Civil war, Tear instability, and the Booker/Comstock identity split | Vigors, Tears, Sky-Line rails, and Songbird |
What happens in BioShock Infinite?
BioShock Infinite released on 26 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360, with later OS X and Linux versions. It was not initially presented as a direct sequel or prequel. Its protagonist is Booker DeWitt, a disgraced Pinkerton agent burdened by gambling debts and guilt over Wounded Knee.
- Retrieving Elizabeth: In July 1912, Booker is sent to Columbia to retrieve Elizabeth, who has been imprisoned in a tower for 15 years. Authorities call him the False Shepherd.
- Revolution and Tears: Booker frees Elizabeth, and they move between Founder and Vox realities. Elizabeth kills Fitzroy when the rebel leader is about to execute a child. Her ability to open Tears makes her both a prisoner and the key to Columbia’s technology.
- Comstock’s secret: Booker learns that Comstock is a baptized version of Booker from another reality. Comstock stole Booker’s infant daughter, Anna, from a parallel world, killed his wife, and tried to kill the Lutece twins. Exposure to Tears left Comstock aged and infertile; he built a Siphon to suppress Elizabeth’s power.
- The identity split: Robert Lutece bought Anna to erase Booker’s debts. Booker tried to reclaim her, but the closing Tear severed the baby’s finger and left Anna partly in two realities. That event is the source of Elizabeth’s ability to open Tears.
- The final choice: In a future where Columbia attacks New York in 1983, an older Elizabeth sends Booker back with the means to control Songbird. Booker drowns Comstock in a baptismal font. Elizabeths from multiple realities then explain that some Bookers accept baptism and become Comstock while others remain Booker. They drown Booker before he can make that choice, erasing the Comstock branch.
The post-credits scene shows a Booker in his apartment on 8 October 1893 calling for Anna before the image cuts to black. It deliberately leaves the surviving reality unresolved. The game’s idea of “constants and variables” does not mean every event is identical; it argues that certain relationships and choices recur across universes.
Is BioShock Infinite connected to BioShock?
Yes, but the connection is fully explained only by Burial at Sea. Infinite briefly shows Rapture through a Tear, establishing that the underwater and airborne cities are parallel examples of doomed utopias. The expansion then makes the practical link explicit: the Luteces and other scientists use rifts to exchange technology, so plasmids and Vigors, and Big Daddies and Songbird, are related inventions from connected realities.
What is Burial at Sea?
Burial at Sea is a two-part Infinite expansion set in an alternate Rapture on 31 December 1958 and into 1959, before the original game. Episode One released on 12 November 2013; Episode Two followed on 25 March 2014. Levine described it as part of Infinite’s story and, in many ways, Elizabeth’s story.
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Episode One
Booker works as a private investigator in a still-functioning Rapture. Elizabeth hires him to find a missing girl named Sally. The finale reveals that this Booker is a Comstock who escaped Elizabeth’s attempt to erase Comstocks. When he kidnapped Anna, the portal beheaded her instead of merely removing a finger. Guilty, he asked the Luteces to send him to Rapture, where his memories were reset. A Big Daddy kills him.
Episode Two
Elizabeth is captured by Atlas, whose real identity is Karl Hanover. She bargains with information about Yi Suchong, who works for Ryan while secretly aiding Fontaine. Returning to a reality in which she has already died costs Elizabeth her multiverse vision. Atlas has her beaten to death after she gives him what he needs to bring Jack to Rapture.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What order should I play BioShock?
For a first playthrough, use release order. This preserves the original mystery of “Would you kindly,” lets Infinite arrive as a thematic change of scenery, and prevents Burial at Sea from spoiling both Infinite and the first BioShock.
- BioShock (2007): Learn Rapture, Jack, Ryan, Atlas, and the Little Sister choice.
- BioShock 2 (2010): Continue Rapture in 1968 as Subject Delta; play Minerva’s Den afterward if available.
- BioShock Infinite (2013): Move to Columbia and follow Booker and Elizabeth.
- Burial at Sea, Episodes One and Two: Finish the multiverse connection and its bridge to Jack.
The in-universe chronological order is Infinite (1912), Burial at Sea (1958–1959), BioShock (1960), then BioShock 2 (1968). That sequence gives away Infinite’s ending immediately and uses Burial at Sea as a prequel to a game you have not yet played, so it is better suited to a replay.
Where can I play the complete story?
BioShock: The Collection, released in September 2016, is the most complete single package. It contains BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, plus Minerva’s Den, both Burial at Sea episodes, challenge modes, the Museum of Orphaned Concepts, and the Imagining BioShock director’s commentary. The first two games were remastered; Infinite was ported because 2K considered its PC maximum settings already at the collection’s graphical target.
The collection launched in North America on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 13 September 2016, worldwide on consoles on 15 September, and on Windows in September. A macOS version arrived on 22 August 2017, and Nintendo Switch received the collection on 29 May 2020. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One boxed editions used two discs. Earlier bundles include the Ultimate Rapture Edition (2013) and Infinite: The Complete Edition (2014), but neither is as comprehensive for a first-time series playthrough.
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For prose about Rapture’s construction and pre-collapse years, John Shirley’s licensed 2011 novel BioShock: Rapture is a companion rather than a replacement for the games. It expands the city’s history but should not be treated as game-engine canon.
What is the status of the next BioShock game and film?
2K announced a new BioShock project at its Cloud Chamber studio in December 2019. No public story, setting, release date, or gameplay details have been established. In August 2025, 2K said an internal review found “a good game” but that the team was committed to making a great one; Variety also reported Rod Fergusson taking charge of Cloud Chamber and the BioShock franchise. In May 2026, Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick said the company had spent too much time and money pursuing creative directions that became dead ends. Ken Levine is not actively involved.
Netflix announced a BioShock film in February 2022 with Vertigo Entertainment and 2K. Francis Lawrence was attached to direct and Michael Green to write, and producer Roy Lee said in 2024 that budget cuts had shifted the project toward a more personal story. The partnership was still listed in 2K’s August 2025 franchise memo, but no cast, title, or release date has been announced.
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This explanation prioritizes the three main games and Burial at Sea, then uses the collection and companion material only to clarify where the story is available. The organizing criteria are continuity, each city’s ideology and collapse, the protagonists’ revelations, and the choices or mechanics that carry the themes into play.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play BioShock Infinite without playing the first two games?
Yes. Infinite introduces Booker, Elizabeth, Columbia, and its own history, so it can stand alone mechanically and narratively. You will understand more of its Rapture imagery and Burial at Sea if you know the original game first.
Is the BioShock novel part of the game canon?
BioShock: Rapture is licensed tie-in fiction by John Shirley, published by Titan Books in 2011. It expands the city’s backstory, but the games remain the primary continuity and the novel does not replace their accounts.
Why does Elizabeth lose her powers in Burial at Sea?
Episode Two places her in a reality where she has already died, which strips away the cross-universe perspective she previously possessed. The loss forces her to rely on ordinary investigation and sacrifice rather than simply opening another Tear.
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Does BioShock have a multiplayer campaign?
BioShock 2 included a separate multiplayer mode set during Rapture’s 1959–1960 civil war. That mode is not part of BioShock: The Collection, whose included story content is single-player.
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